Method of making metal wheels.



A. G. ANDERSON.

METHOD OF MAKING METAL WHEELS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 11, 1907.

Patented Nov. 10, 1908.

(Inventor 719027,

,. attoznu are each formed of steel ods 'of Making -Metal I sentia UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

AXDE-RS G. ARBERSGE, WORCESTER "MASSMHUSE-TTS, PRESSED STEEL COMPANY, CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

.Y- ms'rnon or iuaxme METAL WHEELS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 10, 1908.

' Application and September 1;, i907. sma No. aaaasz.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ANDERB G. ANDERSON,"

State of Massachusetts, have invented cerlain new and useful Iin rovements in Methheels, of which the followingisa specification; f

My invention relates provements in methods of making metal wheels, and is deto simplify and ehea the production of such articles, while etracting nothin from their strength ondurability.

- 3)" my method of construction, I produce an. un roved article which is adapte foreflicient use as a wheel or rollerskates but is also applicable for use as a pulley, or for other purposes where a very stron and, at the same time, economical whee is desired.

The article, which for the sake of convenience I will hereinafter designate througlhout as a wheel, is composed esy and in its preferred form, of only three parts, two of which are identical and ressed in 'dies to form a web-and-hub mem er, the hub portion of which may be shaped to form a ballrace when the wheel is to be mounted on bailbearin s, the third part being the rim-memher, w ich is drawn or pressed up from soft steel. This rim-member. may be a plain cylindrical ring, or dished to receive a belt,

" and it may be crowned or tapered, and internally grooved or shouldered to facilitate the assembling, as will be hereinafter described. The web-and-hub members may also take various forms; for instance the web-portion may be in a plane at right an-' gles to-the axis of the hub-portion or in a pkllane inclined thereto in elther direction; t e huboi tions may be cylindrical through out or s aped to form or receive ball-races and the web-members maybe made dishshaped so that they are expanded in the operation of assembling. The method of assembling the parts also necessarily varies somewhat in accordance with the shapes of the latter, as will be seen from the description which follows, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which,

Figure 1 is a cross-section of a wheel embodying my improvements; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same; this figure will also eculiarly serve as an elevation of the modified forms of the other views; Fige, 3,4 and 5 are sectional views, similar to Fig. slightly modified'rims to a bling the parts; Fig. 6 is a similar view 1, illustrating cilitate assemillustrating n lodified forms of'the "rim and hub; Fig. 7 is a similar view illustratin another modified form of rim and also a di ferent method of assemblin the parts; Figs. 8 and 9 are similar views showi modified forms of the rim member, the 113% portions of the web-and-hub members being cylindrical with ball-races pressed therein, and Fig. 10 is a view showing a modified form of wheel, in which the ball-races are made separate from the web-and-hub members. Fig. 11 illustrates a wheel having a straight cylindrical h-ub ressed into flanges formed on the webmem ers.

, In Fig. 1, the rim-member a is a plain, cylindrical ring drawn .up of soft steel of a diameter sli htly greater than that of the webs b of tfie web-and-hub members; said webs lie in planes at right angles to the axis of the Wheel, and carrying integral hubportions 0 shaped to form ball-races at d, These Web-and-hub members are each made from a disk of steel, which is cupped and pressed in dies to shape; the sharp edge of the disk, where it is cut-from the plate, is left on the hub-side, for a purpose to be described. The web-and-hub members, which are identical in shape, are now placed backto-back with the web-portions in contact, the rim member is placed centrally around the webs and the parts thus assembled are forced through a die which compresses the rim tightly onto the webs, the edges of which bite into the metal of the rim, thus making a joint as strong as though the parts were integral or welded. The sharp. edges of the-webs, above referred to, assist in this operation and crowd the two webortions tightly together. The web-and-hu members are preferably case-hardened while the rim-member is left soft.

For the sake of lightness, the webs may contain a series of apertures e, as clear] shown in Fig. 2, which, as has been state dies which straighten. it out and thereby force it onto the edges of the webs Z).

In Fig. 4:, the rim-member g is first drawn taper, being made truly cylindrical in the operation of assembling the parts. The taper is such that. it prevents the webs from displacement inv assembling. 'The webs may be simultaneously expanded by straightening them.

In Fig. 5 the rim-member h is provided with an internal shoulder 2', against which the webs are placed when the parts are to be assembled. The shoulder serves as a gage to locate the webs centrally in the rim, and may be combined with the tapered or cupped rims of Figs. 3 and 4.

In Fig. 6 a form of rim is is shown, suitable for the reception of a belt, showin r the adaptability of my invention to pulleys. Also the hubs l are made plain races being omitted.

In Fig. 7 another form of belt-pulley rim m is shown and further as having an interhal groove n for the reception of the edges of the webs 0 which are dished, shown, the assembling being accomplished by straightening said webs and thereby expanding them into said groove.

Fig. 8 illustrates a modified'form of the Web-and-hub memb s, in which the webportions 7) spring from the outer ends of the hub-portions instead of from the inner ends as heretofore, and are inclined inwardly to meet at the center of the rim, which, in this case, is compressed onto the webs and is preferably grooved, as shown.

In Fig. 9, the web-portions q are inclined outwardly from the inner ends of the hubportions and engage the rim near its outer edges. The rim' here also is compressed onto the webs.

In Fig. 10, I have shown, as an example of the various forms in which my invention may be embodied and which are naturally too numerous to illustrate and describe, a rim-member r havin downwardly extending flanges s and at ickcr portion t at its center. The webs may be dished, as shown, and expanded. into said thickened portion, which may or may not be grooved, or the webs may be straight andthe rim be com pressed onto the same, or the two operations maybe combined, indeed is also the case whatever the shape of the rim may be, providedthe webs are not inclined as in the forms of Figs. 8 and 9. In this Fig. 10, I have shown straight hub-portions with ballraccs u pressed in, but it will be obvious that they might equally well be shaped to form integral ball races.

In the form shown in Fig. '11, the web members have short hub-members or flanges -v formed thereon, and a, straight cylindrical but. 1 pressed i As willbe seen from the foregoing, there the ball-"f are numerous slight modifications which may be made in the shape of the rim, in that of the web-and-hub members and in the method of assembling the parts, and it will be understood that the said modified forms may be combined in various ways in addition to those illustrated in the drawing, and that the different methods of assembling the parts may be used at will with the various shapes, excepting, of course, where the latter do llct lend themselves to certain of the methods of assembling hereinbefore described, the s ope of my invention being delined in the following claims:-

1. The method of making a metal wheel of the class described, which consists -in pressing up in dies two identical web-andhub members, placing them back to back within an annular riin-mei'nbcr, and simultaneously compressing the latter in dies to render it cylindrical and expanding the webs of said web-'and-hub members to causethe edges of said webs to bite into the metal of said rim-member.

2. The method ofanaking a metal'wheel of the class described, which consists in pressing up in (lies two identical web-andhnb members, placing them together with the axes of their hub-portions in alinement,

and within a tapered, annular rim-member,

and compressing the latter in dies to render it cylindrical and to cause the edges of the web-portions of said web-and-hub members to bite into the metal of said Nonmember.

3. The method of making a metal wheel of the class described; which consists in cut-' ting out and pressing up in dies two iden tical web-and-hub members, placing them together withthe axes of their hub-portions in alinement and with the sharp, sheared edges of the web portions towards the outside, and compressing a soft steel rim onto said edges. I v

4. The method of making a wheel of the class described. which consists in placing two identical sheet-metal wcb-and-hub members within a rim-member, and simultaneously compressing said rim-member onto the web-portions of said web-and-hub men'ibers and expanding said web-portions into said rim-member.

e 5. The method of making a metal wheel which consists in cutting from sheet steel two circular webmembers, placing them back to back with the sharp peripheral edges on the outside, and forcing said edges into the metal of an annular rim member.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

spens G. ANDERSON. 

